Posts Tagged ‘aston martin’

Aston Martin is partnering with Red Bull racing to design a new beast of a vehicle that could be the fastest street-legal car in the world.

Red Bull has traditionally targeted the extremes, something it has proven on the Formula One circuit, among other things. Now it’s taking aim at the street, partnering up with Britain’s Aston Martin to develop a road-going hypercar that it broadly hints could give Bugatti’s new Chiron a run for the money.

Dubbed the AM-RB 001, the two-seater is set to arrive in 2018 and, in appropriate fashion, Aston CEO Andy Palmer today said plans call for production of no more than 150 of the street version – and perhaps as few as 99 – with another 25 produced for track use.

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“As the project gathers pace its clear the end result will be a truly history-making hypercar that sets incredible new benchmarks for packaging, efficiency and performance and an achievement that elevates Aston Martin to the very highest level,” declared Palmer as the AM-RB 001 was rolled out at Aston’s British headquarters. (more…)

Pushing ahead on the development of its first battery-electric sports car, Aston Martin will partner up with Chinese consumer electronics firm LeEco.

The two hope to have their first vehicle, based on Aston Martin’s Rapide S model, in production by 2018. But the venture could also tie up with another aspiring electric vehicle manufacturer, Faraday Future, Aston CEO Andy Palmer said during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany.

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Tying up with LeEco “brings Aston Martin’s electric car project forward,” said Palmer, who joined the British sports car company in 2014 after serving as global product planning chief for Nissan Motor Co. – where he also oversaw the Japanese maker’s electrification efforts.

Danish designer and entrepreneur Henrik Fisker has filed a $100 million lawsuit against his former employer, the British automaker Aston Martin, alleging “civil extortion.”

The suit, filed in federal court in Central California, centers around the Force 1 sports car Fisker is planning to reveal next week at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. It claims that Aston has taken steps to block the debut of the car or make changes before its launch.

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“This is a classic case of David vs. Goliath,” said Fisker. “Aston Martin is trying to intimidate me to prop up their own flailing company and to mask their financial and product deficiencies. I refuse to be intimidated and that is the reason for today’s filing.”

Aston will add a second pair of doors to the production version of the DBX crossover.

Little Aston Martin has some big plans. With a flood of new cash from key investors, new CEO Andy Palmer says the British maker will soon have its largest line-up of products ever, a mix that will include traditional Aston sports cars, big sedans, even a battery-electric version of the DBX sport-utility vehicle concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last March.

The product blitz is part of a broader effort to fix a business model that “is broken,” said Palmer, who joined Aston last autumn after a long career at Nissan capped as the Japanese maker’s global product chief.

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“We’ve been beating this dead horse for a long time,” Palmer told TheDetroitBureau.com during an interview in California, where he had come for the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. As a result, it has suffered seven bankruptcies over the last 102 years, along with several “near misses.”

Aston Martin surprised everyone with the introduction of its DBX crossover at the Geneva Motor Show.

Aston Martin has lined up a £200 million, or roughly $300 million, cash infusion from its key shareholders, money that it will use to build several new models including a production version of the DBX crossover revealed at the Geneva Motor Show several months ago.

The goal is to create “the strongest and most portfolio in our history,” proclaimed Andy Palmer, the former Nissan senior executive who joined Aston Martin Lagonda as its new CEO last year.

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“This additional long-term funding, will enable us to add extra model lines and broaden our presence in the luxury market segment by the end of the decade,” said Palmer in a statement. He made it clear that the primary focus is on the DBX.

Aston Martin surprised everyone with the introduction of its DBX crossover at the Geneva Motor Show.

After a few tough years, things are starting to look up for Aston Martin – and for Aston fans.

With a new CEO and funds to let Andy Palmer’s team fire up the product development process, Aston says it is ready to not only replace all of its current product lines but add “up to three new models” to its line-up. It has confirmed one of those, a production version of the striking, if controversial, DBX crossover first shown at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

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But now comes word that Aston might not use its factory in Gaydon, several hours outside London, to produce the DBX. Sources suggest that it is looking at several alternative that could include producing the new model in the United States.

Aston offered a hint of its future design direction with the DB10 concept it created for the new 007 film.

With a new management team already in place, Aston Martin is getting gotten a fresh cash commitment from a big Italian investment firm that should help it move ahead with what is being billed as the most aggressive product program in the British marque’s history.

Among other things, the pledge by Investindustrial SpA could permit Aston Martin lagonda Ltd. To add its first crossover-utility vehicle to the line-up of products it plans to introduce in the next half-decade. Aston has laid out plans to double sales to 8,000 vehicles annually as its line-up expands.

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“Aston has an industrial plan which is growing in its ambitions and we have always planned to participate in all funding needs that Aston has,” said Investindustrial Chairman Andrea Bonomi speaking to reporters in Milan. “If Aston needs capital, we’re there.”

Aston Martin's Vantage S Roadster will hit showrooms later this year. It will do so at a top speed of 201 mph.

Aston Martin’s introduced a string of well received and critically acclaimed cars in the last few years, but what it’s netted is nothing…actually less than nothing. The maker lost $41 million in 2013.

With stylish and powerful vehicles like the Vantage, DB9, Vanquish and Rapide, the company’s getting attention and it is turning the tide. The 2013 loss was just a third of what the British maker lost in 2012.

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In simple terms, the company is selling more vehicles. Last year, it sold 4,200 cars compared with just 3,800 in 2012. As a result, revenues were up 12.6%, according to Reuters. (more…)

In an unexpected move, top Nissan executive Andy Palmer has left the Japanese maker for a new position as CEO of Aston Martin. The British luxury maker has been without a CEO since 70-year-old Ulrich Bez retired last November.

The move comes at a significant time for Aston which had been hit hard by the global economic recession. The maker recently lined up additional funding intended to help it launch the most aggressive product program in its history.

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But the departure of 51-year-old Palmer comes at something of an awkward time for Nissan which has seen several other high-profile departures recently, including the loss of Infiniti global chief John de Nysschen who last month became the new head of Cadillac.

Aston Martin's Vantage S Roadster will hit showrooms later this year. It will do so at a top speed of 201 mph.

Jaguar has the new F-Type convertible, Chevrolet has new Corvette Z06 convertible, and well, it seems that this is the year of the high-powered convertible and Aston Martin couldn’t be left out. So it’s debuted the 2015 V12 Vantage S Roadster.

The new soft-top joins the Vanquish Volante GT and DB9 Volante in Aston’s convertible line-up later this year, although an official date wasn’t revealed by the maker nor was pricing. However, the Vantage S starts at just under $200,000.

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It’s the companion to the coupe that the company rolled out in 2013, and it’s quite a partner. The new Vantage is powered by a 565-horsepower 6.0-liter V-12 that tops out at 201 mph. It boasts a zero-to-60 time of 3.9 seconds. (more…)